Canzano: The legend of Brandon Roy grows

View full sizeJamie Francis/The OregonianIn Game 4, Brandon Roy played 27 minutes eight days after coming back from knee surgery.For his next trick, Brandon Roy will make it snow in Phoenix. After that, he’s going to part the Willamette River. Then, who knows?

First, I stood in the Trail Blazers locker room while Roy unwrapped both taped ankles after Portland’ 96-87 victory over Phoenix in Game 4 on Saturday. He also had a giant bag of ice wrapped around each knee. And when the Blazers guard walked across a small pool of water on the wet tile floor beyond his locker, I looked down at his feet.

You know, just to be sure they were actually touching the tiles.

Roy’s gritty and inspired performance eight days after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee is the stuff of legend.

Let’s see. The promise that he would try to play. The series of text-message pleas Roy made to his coach, and team trainer Jay Jensen. The "Rocky" theme music that blared from the public address system when he checked into the game. The clutch shots. The critical victory.

Every bit of it.

Legend.

Roy played 27 minutes, scored 10 points, and gave a city a collective case of the chills. He made the Suns account for him, and they paid dearly for it. Best of all, while it was obvious to anyone watching that he was not quite himself, Roy showed rare restraint for an NBA star and didn’t attempt to do a single thing that he wasn’t capable of pulling off.

Blazers assistant Dean Demopoulos said after the game, “He’s the best I’ve ever been around.” And owner Paul Allen, who was consulted pre-game on the decision, walked down the hallway and out of the arena with a delighted and wonderous look in his eye. And teammate Jerryd Bayless, whose locker is beside Roy’s, leaned in to me after the game so his star neighbor couldn’t hear him and said, “I told him before tipoff, ‘Brandon, I don’t know if you should do this.’

“Then, he went and ended up being huge for us.”

Stoudemire?

Unimpressed, of course.

“Roy really didn’t affect us. He wasn’t the difference at all. We just didn’t bring the effort," the Suns' big man said. That thought was backed up by coach Alvin Gentry, who pointed out that the only regular-season victory the Suns had over Portland was game Roy played in. And Channing Frye --- you’d think HE, most of all, would know better --- said of Roy, “I think it’s just another player for them.”

Now, it’s true that Roy isn’t going to save the series for Portland by himself. And it’s also true that Roy was summoned by coach Nate McMillan to check into the game in the first quarter and watched while sitting on the floor by the scorer’s table as his teammates ripped off a 9-2 run without him and took the lead. And it’s further true that Bayless' killer energy was a boost, and LaMarcus Aldridge apparently does not like to be called soft and responded with a hardcore 31-point, 11-rebound, Game 4 performance.

Yes, it’s true --- the magic came from everywhere, not just Roy on Saturday. But damn, isn’t what happened at the Rose Garden a case of sport doing exactly what it’s supposed to do? And isn’t there reasonable doubt that the Blazers would have won the game without Roy on the floor? And don’t the Suns sound like a pack of suckers for remaining non-believers in the wake of the Game 4?

That fine moment when Roy checked into the game on Saturday undeniably lifted the Blazers. It raised a city to its feet. In fact, as Roy sauntered onto the scene, I scanned press row at the line of sourpuss media who have covered decades of basketball and think they’ve seen it all (myself included) and I saw something I’ve not ever seen before.

Smiles.

This was theater at its finest, baby.

Nevermind the ignorant TNT broadcast team that questioned at halftime why the Blazers would dare risk Roy’s health with such a crazy move. Nevermind the cries through the television of, “You just don’t jeopardize the face of the franchise!” Nevermind them all, because how can you know who Roy is and what he means to the franchise if all you’ve seen of him has come through a studio monitor?

In the recovery room, post-surgery, Roy shocked everyone when he held his leg up for all to see, bent it at the knee, and said, “Look, I have full range of motion already.” That evening, he walked up a flight of stairs at his house, pain-free. And within a couple of days, Roy was on the treadmill, had no swelling, and passed every strength test the team threw at him.

Then, he started begging to play.

You may already know Roy is tough. You may even know that Roy shocked everyone by coming back prematurely from a far more serious knee surgery his junior year at the University of Washington. That time, Roy popped into the second half of an upset of then-No. 12 North Carolina State just three weeks post-surgery and scored 10 points. But what you probably don’t know is that Roy refused all pain medication post-surgery.

Trainer Jensen said: “He took no medication.”

I know. I know.

We’re used to professional athletes playing it safe with their bodies. The world of athletics is filled with men who wouldn’t dare come back a day before anyone expected them to be present. It’s not about risking injury most of the time, it’s simply about not wanting to look bad while people are watching and you're not at your best.